Dragon Flower What If
by BeyondTheClouds777
Summary: What if Stoick hadn't pushed Hiccup out of the way of the Scauldron's tail? NOT a Death!Fic no matter what it sounds like. Requested by the awesome Jesusfreak, Guest.


**This is a one-shot based on the "Dreamworks Dragons" episode "Dragon Flower." It is a What-If? for the moment when Stoick jumped in to save Hiccup from the Scauldron; well, what if he didn't get there in time? NOT a Death!fic, no matter what it sounds like. It was requested by Jesusfreak, Guest. Awesome person, really. :) This is for you! Someone challenged me to write this story today, and so, yeah. I did that. There will be a new chapter for "Remember Me" this evening, so don't worry. There will also be quite a few more tomorrow. :) Have fun with that. Also, feel free to challenge me on my fanfictions. Granted, I won't be able to complete every one, but I enjoy having someone challenge me from time to time, so don't worry about it. :) Thanks, you guys are awesome! **

"Alright, Stoick. What's the plan?" Gobber asked.

"Hiccup, when Gobber and I secure the Scauldron's head," said Stoick to Hiccup, "Sven will wedge its jaw open. We'll need you to-"

"Drain the poison into the bucket, got it," said Hiccup. "Let's get started." He grabbed a bucket full of Blue Oleander flowers and tossed them one by one over the side of the ship. "This is what Scauldrons eat," Hiccup explained. "It'll draw them to the boat."

They waited for what felt like an eternity. All the while, nothing happened.

"Bah!" shouted Mildew angrily. "This is not working! It was a stupid idea to begin with!"

Hiccup glared at him and began to approach, but Stoick held him back.

"Easy son," he said. "That's not why we're here."

"But...that is," said Gobber, pointing out at the ocean. They looked up and watched as an emerald green dragon rose out of the water and towered over them. It exhaled, steam blowing from its nostrils.

"Scauldron," said Stoick.

Hiccup grabbed some remaining Blue Oleanders and scattered them on the wooden boards of the boat. "We need to lure the Scauldron on deck," he said.

"Oh that's _great_," said Mildew. "Get it on the ship where it can HAVE AT US ALL!"

He was really getting on Hiccup's last nerve. It was Mildew's fault to begin with. It was his fault, and Hiccup knew it, although no one else seemed to.

"Gobber!" shouted Stoick. "Secure its neck with this! I'll lasso its horn!"

Before either of them could do anything, the Scauldron sank back under the waves.

"Where did it go?" said Gobber.

The answer came a little bit too soon. The Scauldron shot back out of the water, tipping the boat sideways.

"HANG ON, EVERYBODY!" shouted Gobber.

And they did. Except Hiccup, who couldn't find anything to hold on to.

"HICCUP!" shouted Stoick.

Gobber grabbed his apprentice's arm before he could topple off the ship. "Gotcha!" the blacksmith shouted.

The Scauldron leveled the ship off and began to sink back into the water.

"Gobber, here's our chance!" shouted Stoick. "We can't let the dragon back in the water!"

The duo managed to tie the Scauldron down with the ropes, but it was fighting back like crazy.

"He's a strong one!" shouted Gobber.

"Sven, we need that barrel now!" shouted Stoick.

"I got the bucket!" Hiccup said.

"Careful, son!" said Stoick. "You don't want to get that venom in you!"

"Yes, I know, Dad, I'll be dead in twenty four hours," said Hiccup.

Sven came up with a barrel in hand. He threw it up into the air, towards the Scauldron. It smacked into its mouth and held it open. The Scauldron growled.

"Ha-ha!" shouted Sven in triumph.

The Scauldron was having none of it. It snapped the barrel in half with its jaw. The barrel...or...what _used to be _the barrel, splintered into about a thousand pieces and fell onto the deck of the ship. Then the Scauldron turned to Sven.

"Sven!" Stoick exclaimed. "Look out!"

Too late. The Scauldron slapped Sven straight off the deck with its tail as easy as just swatting a fly away. Then it turned around, eying its next target.

"Hiccup, behind you!" shouted Stoick.

He tried to run over, but he was too late. The Scauldron pushed Hiccup with its tail - _hard_. He fell backwards over the side of the ship and into the ocean with a shrill cry.

"HICCUP!" shouted Stoick, rushing over. The Scauldron yanked itself free from Gobber and dived down into the water after its prey.

Darkness. That's the first thing Hiccup registered. He was underwater, going down. He kicked his feet, but his prosthetic made it near to impossible to actually swim properly. He only continued to sink deeper into the ocean.

Then he looked up and saw a green dragon swimming remarkably fast in his direction. He tried to move out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. The Scauldron opened its mouth, and sank its teeth into Hiccup's left forearm.

Almost instantly the edges of his vision blackened. Gobber was right about the poison, he knew that for certain now. He could _feel _the poison rush through his veins and up to his head.

_Dead in twenty four hours_, he recounted. His world blackened, and he lost consciousness.

Satisfied with that, the Scauldron sank deeper into the water, never to be seen again.

Meanwhile, Stoick was shouting "HICCUP!" over and over and over again until he finally decided to just jump in the ocean. The icy water stung his skin, but he didn't care. His son's life was on the line.

His eyes widened with terror as he saw Hiccup, sinking deeper into the sea, not even struggling; not even trying. The Scauldron was no where to be seen, but Stoick could assume the worst, and he did.

He kicked harder towards his sinking son and grabbed his wrist. Then, he wrapped one arm around his body and kicked, desperately fighting to get to the surface before it was too late.

If it wasn't already.

As soon as he resurfaced, Stoick gasped for breath, relieved to see that the ship was still in the same place. He made sure Hiccup's head was above the water, his relief vanishing when he realized he was still limp. He hollered for Gobber in pure panic.

The blacksmith ran over to the side of the boat and breathed a breath of relief. "Stoick!" he shouted.

Stoick lifted Hiccup out of the water and handed him to Gobber, who gently laid him down on the deck and then reached out to Stoick. Stoick grabbed Gobber's hand and allowed him to yank him out of the ocean and onto the deck.

Instantly, father and blacksmith raced over to Hiccup. Stoick slid his hand behind Hiccup's back and held him up, looking at his closed eyes with all the concern in the world. He could see the weak rise and fall of Hiccup's chest, but he didn't know how much longer it would last.

Gobber stared at his apprentice and then took notice of the boy's arm...

"Stoick," he said, "the Scauldron bit him."

Stoick really didn't need to hear anything more negative. He had figured before that the Scauldron had bitten him, and it just filled him with more dread. Scooping Hiccup into his arms he stood and made his way below deck, Gobber trailing, Mildew remaining up on deck.

As soon as they made it below, Stoick laid Hiccup down gently, cradling the boy's head. Gobber moved furiously, looking for gauze, or something to help. As soon as he did, he helped Stoick wrap Hiccup's arm. Hiccup cried out, still unconscious, at different times from the pain and venom coursing through his body. After Gobber did all he could, he ran back up to the deck to steer the ship back to Berk.

They got the venom from the Scauldron, but they didn't know what it would cost the one holding it.

At that moment, Stoick didn't care anymore about the dragons. Not when Hiccup's life was on the line. Sure, he cared about them all, Thornado and Toothless especially, but neither of them were as important to him as Hiccup was.

The trip back to Berk was quick and uneventful. Boy, did Stoick wish they had the dragons. It would have gone so much faster. But they didn't have the dragons, so might as well not wish they did.

When they docked on Berk, Stoick picked Hiccup up again, wincing at how his skin was hot to the touch. He stood up and walked up the steps back to the deck again before getting off the ship after Gobber and Mildew.

He and Gobber instantly raced to the forge, ignoring the gasps and shouts from villagers who were obviously wondering what was going on.

The dragon riders from the academy raced over when they heard shouts, signaling that the ship had returned, but when they caught sight of their leader and friend, they almost screamed. They followed Stoick and Gobber to the forge, just to see what had happened and to be there in case they needed help.

Upon entering the forge, Stoick put Hiccup down on one of the tables and looked to Gobber frantically. The blacksmith removed the gauze wrapped around Hiccup's arm and gasped. The two puncture wounds weren't bleeding as much now, but the skin around them was red and irritated. His whole forearm was swollen horribly.

"Oh boy," Gobber muttered. "Okay, Stoick, you're going to have to hold onto him. You three-" he pointed to Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, "go bring me that thing over there-" he pointed to the corner to a rather strange looking object. While the three raced over to get it, Gobber took hold of Hiccup's arm. Ruff and Tuff ended up getting into a fight about who brought it to Gobber, so Snotlout pushed them both out of the way and brought it to him himself. Gobber took it from him, and without another word, stuck the sharp end into Hiccup's arm. Hiccup screamed, and Stoick held him down.

"Oh dear," Fishlegs breathed, fainting afterwards.

Gobber removed the thing that resembled a needle and then unscrewed the top. He poured the contents into a jug and handed it to Astrid.

"Give it to your dragons," he breathed. "I'm going into the forest to scream."

He turned around and left the forge without another word. Astrid turned back to Hiccup, Stoick and the others. Hiccup opened his eyes weakly, looking around, finding everyone staring at him. He made a move to sit up, but stopped at the dull ache in his head.

"Hiccup," Stoick breathed. He embraced his son gently and firmly at the same time, not wanting to hurt him, but not wanting to let go. Hiccup's arms hung limply at his sides, one of them immovable and the other one simply not knowing what to do.

"What happened?" Hiccup asked.

"The Scauldron bit you," said Stoick. "I thought you were _dead _for a little while there, Hiccup."

"Sorry," said Hiccup. "I tend to just narrowly avoid death a lot." He paused. "But you have to admit, I do a pretty good job at avoiding it." He suddenly remembered Toothless and the other dragons. The illness...what had happened!? He sat up quicker than he should have and shouted, "What about the dragons!? Are they okay? Did we get the venom? Are they healthy, should we do something? Where are they!?"

"Calm down," said Astrid. "Seriously. You just narrowly avoid death by Scauldron venom, and the first things you think about are the dragons?"

"Well...I am rather fond of dragons," said Hiccup lamely.

"You don't say?" Astrid rolled her eyes. She held up the Scauldron venom. "Let's go cure the dragons."

In the background, they could hear Gobber screaming in the forest. They laughed slightly before Stoick spoke.

"You should probably rest a little bit," he said to Hiccup. "That poison could have easily killed you."

"I know, Dad," said Hiccup. "But it didn't."

Stoick smiled and picked him up again before carrying him back to their house. Astrid followed them, wanting to give Toothless the cure first that way Hiccup wouldn't be worrying about him the whole time he was trying to recover.

They entered the house, Stoick taking Hiccup to his loft and setting him down on his bed. Hiccup instantly looked to where Toothless was curled up in the corner, sleeping apparently.

Astrid came up an instant later with the antidote. She moved over to Toothless and nudged the dragon. The Night Fury opened his eyes and stared at Astrid sadly. Astrid dumped a little bit into Toothless' mouth when he was least expecting it. Toothless cringed at the taste, but swallowed it anyway.

"I hope this works," Astrid muttered under her breath, just barely loud enough for Hiccup to hear. Toothless picked up his head and looked around, his pupils widening. He shook his head violently and then looked at Hiccup.

Then, he stood up and bounded over to his rider.

"Toothless!" shouted Hiccup. "How you feeling, bud?"

In reply, Toothless licked his rider affectionately. Hiccup cringed at the feeling of saliva on his face, but only laughed in response. He was too relieved to be mad at the dragon. He had come somewhat close to losing him. And Toothless and the others had come somewhat close to losing Hiccup.

"Let's go give this to the other dragons," said Astrid. "Now that we know it works, why waste time?"

She smiled at Hiccup one last time before she and the others exited. Stoick stood up and looked at Hiccup.

"I know what you're thinking," he said.

"What?" said Hiccup.

"You're thinking of a way to talk me into letting you take a ride with Toothless," said Stoick.

"No!" said Hiccup. He paused. "Yes," he said.

"I thought so," said Stoick. "Stay," he looked at Toothless. "Don't let him out of bed."

"WHAT!?" shouted Hiccup, making a move to get up. Toothless was too fast, though. Laying his head on his riders chest, he pinned him down to the bed. "Dad!" Hiccup groaned.

"Stay," he said again. "I need to go tell the villagers what happened before they barge in here themselves."

He turned and moved back down the stairs. When Hiccup heard the door open and close, he looked at Toothless pleadingly.

"Pleeeease?" he said. Toothless looked up at the ceiling in thought, and then shook his head, keeping it on his rider's chest.

Hiccup groaned. "You're stubborn, you know that," he said. Toothless looked at him. Hiccup sighed. "You probably get it from me," he said. He smiled, and then let sleep overcome him.

_**THE END**_


End file.
